“The bigger the lie, the more it will be believed,” Nazi Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels said. What could this possibly have to do with Social Security? Sadly, a lot. Scarcely a week goes by that either myself or one of my colleagues does not read a post or get an e-mail from someone expressing their utter outrage that the federal government has spent all the extra Social Security money accumulated over the years. And on what do folks think the supposedly stolen funds were spent? It runs the gamut, but wars, congressional pensions, and the Peace Corps are among the top three oft cited.
This must be stated as emphatically as one possibly can, so here it is-the federal government has not taken a dime from Social Security and spent it on anything other than Social Security benefits. Period.
Of course, it’s foolish to try to convince someone who has already been persuaded otherwise. So, perhaps a test is in order. Question: has anyone’s Social Security monthly benefit check actually decreased in any month this year over last? Answer: no. The reason is that all of the past Social Security payroll taxes which have accumulated have been invested in special issue U.S. Treasury securities yielding about two percent. It is precisely these funds that are now being used to cover the shortfall in Social Security.
Social Security’s shortfall is serious, but not because funds have been stolen. The program ran a deficit in 2018, and it will do so every year into the future, barring congressional action. The deficit is purely a demographic phenomenon. Simply put—
people are living longer, and families are having fewer children. Thus, there are currently fewer workers contributing payroll taxes relative to those collecting benefits than at any time in the history of the program. This is problematic, as the surpluses will be exhausted in 2034 according to The Social Security Trustees. It could be earlier with a deep recession.
Social Security is 83 years old. The average life expectancy when the law was enacted in 1935 was about 65 years of age. In other words, most people collected monthly checks for just a few years. But life expectancy is now in the mid-80s, and record numbers of Americans turn 100 each year. To collect a monthly check for 30 years or more is not uncommon. The program was simply never set up to deal with this. The full retirement age was increased just one time in 1983, and by only two years from 65 to 67. Early retirement has remained at 62, a number hardly considered “old age” like it was nearly a century ago.
Where do we go from here? For starters, Social Security must be preserved and modernized. Sixty three million people receive benefits. Every beneficiary will receive a catastrophic cut across the board of 21 percent in just over a decade without any action. By law, Social Security can only pay benefits commensurate with its income, and it will only be able to pay about 79 percent of promised benefits starting in 2034.
The good news is there is still time to modernize this important but dated program. AMAC has devised a solution that does not raise taxes, as our belief is the problem is not that Americans are taxed too little. By making modest adjustments in cost of living calculations, small changes affecting the highest 50th percentile, and increasing the retirement age to reflect reality (no current retiree or near retiree would be affected), the program can be made whole again and stave off the insolvency projected in 2034. Read more about AMAC’s plan here.
To reiterate, the next time you hear someone saying, “The government stole Social Security money,” remind them this is patently false. If the surpluses had been spent, monthly benefits would have already been sliced. And there’s another myth out there that states, “I’ll never get back what I put into Social Security from all the years I worked.” Truth: the average person gets back all he/she ever put in plus a nominal rate of interest in about six years, but that’s the subject a future article. This generosity of Social Security, of course, is also part of the program’s long-term funding problem.
That “The SSA (the Government) steals the beneficiary’s money,” is a true fact. I am a victim-witness that SSA lied to steal my money (SSA retirement benefit) by wiping out my SSA-covered earnings record, replacing it with a false record that disqualified me from federal benefits, and taking my benefits by treating the false record they made-up as true, BUT, I’d filed my 1099 earnings including my SS disability payments, and IRS has my records. NOTE: So, ALWAYS file your taxes (even if you won’t get a return) so that you will have a record when the SSA conveniently loses, replace, alters, or wipes out your earnings record. I can attest that the SSA lied to steal my SS benefit, and just like they did this to me, they’ve done it to others. The only correction that needs to be made, if SSA is not exchangeable with Federal Government to say it this way is, “SSA, an agent of the Federal Government, steals the beneficiary’s money thru lying and falsified records sent through sending fraudulent and altered documents thru the US postal service mailing service to perform financial scams. The SSA is doing the stealing! BE WARNED, BE PROTECTED!
I remember reading that changes where SS taxes were allocated moved from the SS lock box into the general fund, to be allocated as Congress so deems.
Does anyone know if this is true or not?
Love this feed. Any posters alive since Covid-19? Thoughts?
I read somewhere that legal/illegal immigrants can draw social security checks off of their sponsors even if they have never worked in this country. Is that true?
AMAC suggestion to fix social security is very complex. Why not just raise the early retirement age to 64 or 65? I would also suggest means testing the benefit. Maybe those making over $200,000 get nothing.
Another factor you don’t seem to understand, Jeff, is that while I paid good money into the SS system all my working life, now the amount I get out is in inflated dollars, which are worth less than half the value of the dollars I put in much my working career.
What about the addition of SSI recepients and Medicaid. Are you saying these funds did not come out of Social Security funds? SSI and Medicaid are available to people who never paid into Social Security. Please check this out.
Too many people get SS that have never put anything into it..I think that’s a huge problem, and why the money will run out.
Checks have not gotten smaller but they don’t keep up with the true levels of inflation. Pushing the retirement age to make workers work longer may sound like a good solution. People doing physical labor will find it difficult or impossible to do that.
Correction: we, the employers, make less than our employees for the same job.
Investing SS dollars in government bonds at a measly 2% is the same a stealing or misappropriating our money. If they had privatized SS, with a financial advisor/expert, we would have higher return. The dysfunctional US government cannot run anything successfully and this is another good example. I also find it amazing that we, their employers, make much more than we do for the same job! It’s past time to shrink the bureaucracy and operate as the largest business in the world.
Will AMAC send this conversation to President Trump to see if he will appoint a trusted colleague to investigate?
As stated by an earlier comment, why doesn’t AMAC show
1) How many people/$ are paid out per year to people that never paid into it. Show it in 5 years increments…it will be a real eyeopener.
o Break it down by ages also IE 21-25, 26-30, 30-35, etc.
o Show the years people have been on SSDi.
2) Why are there NO Audits to investigate people/$ that are on SSDI that are working part time ?
3) How many illegals-green cards are receiving some kind of SSDI assistance and dollarize it per year.
4) How much is the FED getting back by taxes that people have contributed for 30-50 years?? I don’t mean multi-millionaires… I mean under $100k per couple per year incomes
Total mismanagement and complete breakdown in how to handle TAXPAYERS money. The inability to have actual proven criteria before any dollars are paid out is inexcusable. The red flags are everywhere. The erosion of a basic personal accountability and responsibility continues.
Increase the withdrawal to include all taxpayers, not just the limit that is put on it now.
Jeff, your not convincing anyone. Were you an adult when LBJ was president and began robbing the system. Just curious. How old are you?
Only counting the net Social Security payments I receive,in 38 months, I have received more than what I alone contributed in 38 months.
If there wasn’t so much corruption and abuse in the system and the government would be more careful as to who gets it maybe then they wouldn’t be accused as they are the ones responsible to administer it
not to mention all of the benefits they give away to illegals
If the “average” person gets all their money back in six years, it’s just more proof that SS is another wealth redistribution scheme. Part-time and lower paid workers get a much better return on their contributions, than those of us that had a 35 year minimum work history. Perhaps you are not counting the matching contributions that were made by employers. That is a 6.35% tax that could have been put in paychecks. I just started receiving SS, and calculated my breakeven age as 81 and a few months, and that’s with Zero % interest on contributions since 1972. Yes, cost of living adjustments will shorten the wait, but only by a few months.
Bottom line for me, I will not get my money back for 19 years (14.5 years, if I had waited until full retirement age). Either way, it takes me beyond 2034, when under the current program, I will see a 21% benefit reduction, which will extend the breakeven age even further. The math is pretty simple, no matter whose propaganda is being peddled. With this article, I had to look twice to make sure I wasn’t redirected to the AARP site.
Interesting read (Fiction of course). Goebbels quote appropriately led this article. I was paying into Social Security in those days when LBJ did loot the Social Security. It was a private account free of any Government meddling and had so much money in the trust that LBJ said it was just wrong to let it sit there doing nothing when we as a Nation could put that money to work and do great things. He explained that the money should be put into the “General Fund” and all future claims would simply be paid out of the General Fund (This was around 1964 or 1965). Tip O’Neal was Speaker and LBJ had a rock-solid majority on Capitol Hill. They made a law saying the Government could seize the money and transfer it to the General Fund. Once he signed it into law it was spent on the “Great Society” LBJ dreamed would make him the most beloved President in American History (past, present, and future). The problem, the US Government was involved in a very expensive war in SE Asia (I served there) and a Space Race with the Russians to prevent the Soviets for Claiming the Moon as a Soviet Property (Worry about a moon based missile launch facility drove the Space Race). The Great Society Program widely expanded the Federal Government by adding many new bureaucracies to the taxpayers’ burden. The result; by 1972 the American People were warned that Social Security would go broke. Capital Hill became Federal Employees under LBJ’s Great Society. This severed them from the States they represented so that they no longer had to seek perks and pay raises from their State Capitals. They got to vote all of that for themselves. Then, they started cutting deeply into the Social Security pay raises for Senior Citizens, but under Nixons “Cost & Wage” Freeze (to control the Depression (renamed Recession out of the fear created by “Depression”. We have talked “Recession” ever since then. Because of the Wage & Price “Freeze” Capital Hill could not vote themselves a pay raise, so they instead voted to make their money “Tax-Free” (which would be a substantial pay hike for the American people). Yes-Yes-Yes, the Federal Government did in “Fact” Loot the retirement account of the American people in the mid-sixties, and ten years later, they told us it was unsustainable. This was my first realization of just how Criminal the US Government could be under the “Great Society”. Our Federal Representatives also began to go nationwide seeking campaign money as well. Their States no longer mattered to them.
Social Security makes payment under the SSI program to disabled children under 18 whose families have little income and resources. SSI payments are based on need rather than prior work and may be paid to children regardless whether a parent is retired, disabled or has died.
based on NEED-not retirement status, not on amount the worker paid into the system for forty years-just a welfare payment using SOCIAL SECURITY FUNDS-that sounds like THEFT to me
nice article
the Government STOLE the Social security money
the government pays out social security money to scammers like “:bipolar ” cheats
Is this author Nancy Pelosi’s son in law or something?
Would it really jeopardize SS if the “Windfall effect” was erased for those who are below middle income status?
people need to rally round and convince the fat cats in Washington that public service workers who put themselves in harms way throughout their entire career are now being penalized because they paid into both Social Security and a private pension. Point is they paid into both so it’s their money however the windfall elimination provision and the government pension offset, cuts SS benefits by over 1/2 from what is promised in the annual earnings record.
If the people who have the power to change this were affected….and it affects so many people who have dedicated their lives to helping others, it would have already been eliminated. That is who is robbing you is Social Security itself!!!
I was under the impression that LBJ found a way to “borrow” from the SS fund since it was making a lot on its investments.
In other words you can aot take the money, but you could borrow it.
When Obama (which I did vote for at first) was in office it was in the news and also the net, he pulled $38 Billion out of SOcial Security and purchased ammunition’s and weapons and sent them over to the Syria area, to assist in the war against terrists. At that time period ammunition became a big shortage around towns, what was available was limited per person, so I am inclined to think more in-depth checking on the topic at hand is needed. We paid in like we should, and with the interest, there should certainly be sufficient funds available for the ones that paid in, no one else should be receiving any of our funds. Let the government pay for or to the newly received peoples out of their general funds, perhaps adjust their buget
For spending. Whatever works, long we don’t pay the tab and we continue to receive our Social Security in the same amount and each month, many peoples Depend on this for life.
So to say “stealing,” na, out and out taking as the other responders bring forth their info, .
Seems that somehow lots of people don’t seem to keep up with things that really are happening, or they Just don’t get involved, truly a shame , must keep eyes open all the time.. that’s called “life”.
I’ve heard the other side, and both are interesting, but I don’t know which is true. However, I’d like for you to answer these questions: from what fund did Obama get all that money that he sent to Iran, and why was he allowed to do that without any repercussions from Congress? They are supposed to hold the pursestrings in this country, and if Obama could send billions to Iran, why can’t Trump spend billions on the wall?
Very good article ! That really put tings into perspective for me and was plain simple and to the point . Good Job !
I personally believe that the government has not been able to take any of the monies deposited into Social Securtiy, no matter how hard they have tried, simply because there are established safeguards against it.
My question is… When someone passes away before collecting or have just begun to collect their ss funds and their spouse collects some of the ss funds then, it comes time for that spouse to collect their own, or they have no spouse or underage children to collect those funds, where do those funds go?
I think we seniors knew that a long, long time ago! And they try to punish us for the money being gone from the SS fund…money which we paid into the fund during our working years, and is rightfully our own money for our retirement years! Yes, they stole the money to fund other projects and we want our money back! They did not get our permission to borrow the money, they just took it so yes, it is stealing and that is a crime. The crooks in government need to pay back all that money so we seniors can have a decent life while we can, and I paid into the fund for 47 years. I don’t think any of us thought that one day, it would be like “pulling teeth” to get our money not realizing at first that it was stolen from us by the different administrations to pay for other things……..it was reckless what they did. They pulled the wool over our eyes for sure!
Well, there’s really no such thing as “Social Security Funds”….you paid a tax..period. True, an illegal tax..an unconstitutional tax, but still a tax. And it’s a ponzi scheme, because the people drawing SS currently, are funded by those working now! Just as the TAX you paid while you were working was paying those drawing SS then!
Everyone would be a LOT better off, had they been able to KEEP that money and invest it as THEY saw fit…although, most people drawing SS get way, Way, WAY more back then what they put in!
I’m sorry Jeff, but You must be one of the DumbocRATS who refuse to admit ANY of their crimes. Nearly EVERY administration since Kennedy has STOLEN money from Social Security, under the guise of a loan. There were a few accurate points made, like the fact of living longer, but that’s just a small part of the decline of the S.S. coffers. The BIGGEST REASON, is that the money was stolen by CONgress. I would have to assume that a lot of the stolen money went to pay off the claims of sexual misconduct, and bribes paid out by the DumbocRATS.
People are living longer yes, but a large number of people don’t have the ability to work at their current jobs. Arthritis, exhaustion from cancer etc., competing with younger people, sure just raise the age @%^$%!! The majority of people pay into SS all their lives. Just raising the cap would make SS solvent, so everyone can pay in all their lives. The big donors wouldn’t like that now would they.
More propaganda Szymanski, I lived through this particular period with JFKennedy and Johnson, I listened to their speeches as they tried to justify taking these funds and transferring them to the General Fund. Some like you said, ” Just paperwork” but in truth, we lost millions in interest that we would have had otherwise. A lot more than a measly 2% According to Kennedy a large payment was made to UNICEF with a portion of these funds. Under the initial rules, none of this money could have been paid to those not legal citizens, nor any other welfare scam the politicals decided to fund. I suggest you quit reading propaganda as research and spread you wing to include actual history and truth. You would do a greater service to all.
Amac, I never thought you’d publish propaganda. Are you doing one next week stating the Holocaust never happened?
Jeff’s article would carry a lot more weight with some citations, or something/anything that could corroborate his claims. I do recall hearing, either from a PBS documentary (unlikely) or Dinesh D’Souza’s last film (probably), that JFK was the first to “borrow” money from SS to fund one of the corps (Peace or CCC? Although CCC is state specific, so would seem unlikely.) This could be researched, I’m sure. Jeff, I’m sorry, but in order to make your point convincing, I think you need to provide some research results. But sure wish you were right…..
You are forgetting one thing here, since Rowe vs Wade over 20 million babies have been aborted while we as tax payers have paid and are still paying! If you calculate the figures of aborted children, what they would of contributed to SS you will understand the amount that is actually missing.
Jeff, investing the money in worthless T-Bills is stealing it. Give me your money and I will give you worthless script. Tell me how that will work out for you. Sure, sovereigns can print money, but to what end? The truth is we are going to default on the debt, one way or the other. We either have a reset, and all paper assets become worthless (you made a bad investment) or they monetize the debt by printing more fiat currency. Our Debt-to-GDP ratio continues to climb, and is either approaching or is over 100%. It won’t be long before we go full Venezuela, Mad Max Style. This is not dissimilar to a family receiving a credit card in the mail and they foolishly use it, take a vacation, go out to dinner, etc. It creates a wealth effect. Then when the debt accumulates and the interest rates rise, They are forced to pay most of their income out as interest to service the debt. That is a poverty effect.
The only way the social security reserves would have been safe is to invest them in Gold-backed currency. As the economy grew, the value of the gold would have had to increase or the volume would have had to increase to match the quantity of US dollars in circulation. If they had continued to back the dollar with gold without a government fixed price of $35/ounce and the tangible assets of our hard labor would have increased, either the value of the gold would have increased which would have secured our SS funds, or the cost of everything from houses, cars, labor, food, etc. would have deflated, which would have made our SS funds worth more. This Keynesian economic model has stolen the product of our labor, and left the middle class destroyed. Right now the thrifty (savers) are punished and the foolish imprudent (spenders) are rewarded. As the Bible says…the borrower is subject to the lender.
Just wait and see what happens when interest rates increase 2%. I hope you are prepared.
We the people have doubts about how ExPresident Obama stoled $ 1 billion dollars to invest in a off shore account from Social Security funds? How is it possible illegal immigrants who never paid one penny into Social Security able to receive checks from Social Security? Who do we have keeping track and accountable for our funds. Please don’t tell us it’s our politications for they cannot even balance our budget or reduce the national debt.
It has been public knowledge for maybe a decade or more and YET there has been NOTHING done to fix THAT problem or to correct the problem by putting the money back to where congress took (ROBBED) it from.
There are a LOT of people that would really need it when the money gets depleted because of ALL of the ROBBING of our money we put in so we would NOT have to earn billions of dollars so we could live a comfortable life.
The Leftist Socialist Fascist solution is to Eliminate anyone over 65 years old … Except themselves of course!
I just found out about AMAC and if this is the garbage you are spewing, I won’t b around long!
What do you call taxing the SS benefits if not a reduction in benefits?
Social Security trust fund reserves are by law invested in US Treasury securities. So, this, in a way, it finances federal government spending. But this has nothing do with Social Security’s shortfall. Social Security still owns all that money and earns interest on it. The program’s financing problems arise instead from its benefits exceeding the revenue (including interest) that it generates.
You say surplus funds in your article. So is there a difference between surplus(extra money) and the base amount being paid out? What about the start up of Obamacare? Didn’t they take billions out of SS to start that failed program? Is Obamacare considered part of our SS benefits?
If all of this is true then the fictional concept of a Social Security Trust Fund would be sitting on roughly $2.6 trillion dollars. Show me a balance sheet that indicates that is the case.
Until the American people stand up to our so-called government they will continue to do what they want. All we do is read the articles and listen to talk shows and complain. Why can’t organizations start the movement to FORCE the government to change
Somebody better check Jeff Szymanski credentials! We all know the Government borrowed our money & put I.O.U.’s, then they expanded the program to disabilities, and then to illegals. If they had kept the program as originally intended, it would be alive and well. The AMAC should not have “Poliitcal” communications people writing factual articles, because we know there standards, and it is insulting to your members.
“STOLEN” is legally incorrect; a more accurate term would be “MISAPPROPRIATED”>>Congress has “BORROWED” SS funds for years for a number of frivolous pork~barrel projects, and have no intention of paying it back. Legal challenge to this practice survived with a shameful Supreme Court decision in 1960. Flemming vs. Nestor held that SS reserve MAY be used for general appropriations, in effect sanctioning wrongful use of wages withheld by Uncle Sam, SUPPOSEDLY for benefit of all wage earners EXCEPT 535 people: CONGRESS!! It should be noted that CONGRESS does not participate in SS system>>SURPRISE!!! If they DID SS deficits would be fixed before you could say “FILIBUSTER!!” Just another example of Congressional elitism!
It is my understanding that benefits are being paid to people that did not contribute the “Social Security insurance” premium” & / or to non-citizens . Also that money was recatagorized to or borrowed by the Obama admin. I heard that Obama also took Medicare monies to help pay for Affordable Health Care Act (aka Obamacare” Socialized medicine plans) from the Medicare Insurance PREMIUMS paid by working citizens …. again giving Obamacare to people that did not pay in to the system &/or non-citizens
These were both called INSURANCE NOT BENEFITS…. this is called “fraud” aka LIES